The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-07-24

The females the choice meat. The males
can be told by the circle of white feathers at the
neck. The females plain as Quakeresses-
So soon as it becomes generally known that the
sparrow is a table bird their number will rap
idly grow less.
COMMENTING on the general worthlessness of
the average boy of the period for practical duties
writer in the Epoch says;
''Out of fifty or more applicants for vacant
position. three or four all that are worthy of
any consideration, and if one of these Is hired 1t
is rare that he proves capable of any duty more
important than in running errands. Inc boys OF
to-day seem to lack ambition. making little en-
deavor to push themselves ahead Even at the
age of fourteen of Iifteen. when they just out
school, most boys begin life woefully deficient II
knowledge of the simplest elements of education.
They are poor writers and spoilers. and worse
grammarians."
This refers to boys born and brought up in
cities. Country boys, a rule, have more
stamina and staying qualities. The average
CITY boy of the period is bright but superficial.
He knows a great many things he had better not
know, and does great many things he had bet
ter not do In very many instances his personal
habits, his home training and manner of life are
not calculated to develop his better nature or
make man Of him. Multiplied thousands of
boys are wrecked by growing up in cities who
would probably develop into strong and manly
men in the country. Now and then city born
and bred boy up in good form and makes
q man of himself, but the proportion is small.
Most of the successful men of the future
growing up in the country to-day.
In commenting upon the alarming death rate
among children in that city Brooklyn paper
suggests that the trouble may be caused by i'm
pure milk In Brooklyn as we'll as Indianapolis
it is the duty of the board of health to inspect
the milk supply, but there, as here, it seems.
the force employed by the department is insult
fcient to meet all demands upon it and dealers
distribute their wares, good or bad-there is no
middle stage in milk-as they choose. Recog-
nizins the difficulty in the way the paper
ferred to says:
IF there is no milk bureau in the health de-
partment there ought to De one, and the sooner
it is established and some competent and
energetic physician or other expert is appointed
to take charge OF it the better for
the good name of the city. The midsum-
mer death rate among children is a
DIAL, and has been for the past twenty years and
the community well afford to increase the
service, if 1t by so doing reduce the infant
mortality. We believe that this most eft
fectually be done by securing wholesome milk
to children"
This advice is equally applicable to Indianap-
oils. The infant mortality is great this summer
and there must be especial cause for it. This
but until there is frequent and regular official
inspection how is the public to be sure that it
is not. It is matter which will at least bear
investigation.
THE devil doesn't cut as much of figure in
the pulpit nowadays as he did in the times Of
our fathers. When spoken of at all it is in a
general way fgurative manner of repre-
senting evil; the personal devil is being almost
unknown to the modern church-goer With fire
and birthstone and hoofs and horns practically
eliminated from the present system of theology,
it is difficult to understand the influence the
pictured horrors of the hereafter had upon the
people of past generation Some realization
of the Imaginative mseries to which they were
subjected may. however, be gathered from a
perusal of the sermons of that eccentric preacher,
Lorenzo Dow. One choice extract will be sufi-
Gent at this time:
1.-The lake of fire, originally prepared for the
devil and his angels, into which the wicked will
be cast, az their final DOOM which is the second
death, and burns with fire and birthstone, is
dreadful to contemplate A bar of iron heated.
when touched with birthstone, will run down
like melted lead Surprising person to be
confined I and yet not consumedmhow awful Is
years shall cease to roll, how will time be then
described Suppose damned ghost should in
qure of BeelZebub the time. Beelzebub replies
Eternity After a period equal to 10000
years multiplied by the humber of sands, the
waves. the drops, and then the twigs and spires
of grass. and doubled over 10000 times and
multiplied again; still the reply would be eter-
nifty! Without pleasure, and without slumber,
and without end"
This out-does all modern evangelistic preach
ing. Jones' the cowboy preacher and all others
of their class tame beside him. 1t is
related that when he delivered this sermon,
Dow found it necessary to stand with his back
4haI 10 fhn IF sha
frightened audience. and no one will deny that
the hearers had cause for alarm. No wonder
Dow counted his converts by tae thousand.
GREAT many newspaper writers, in com
menting upon the recent death of Sylvan us
Cobb, jr, describe his stories sensational"
| This is the more surprising as the majority of
such writers have undoubtedly, in common with
all voracous readers, had intimate acquaint-
| ance with bis productions at earlier periods of
| their lives and have not the excuse of speaking
| from hearsay. Sensational in the commonly
| cepted meaning of that term Mr.. Cobb's stories
were not Trashy they certainly were, in the
| sense of being commonplace and in requiring the
slightest possible mental effort on the part of
the reader; injurious they may have been, in
| far as literature which conveys instruc-
| ton, inspires serious thought and
| demands no intellectual exertion from
| those who seek to grasp its intricacies
is detrimental, but harmful In character,
otherwise. they cannot properly be called.
Mostly love stories of entirely innocuous
nature. they were free from impure or immoral
! suggestion, and in that respect the author set
| an example that might well be followed by nov
| elists OF higher reputation. Compared with the
| fiction rightfully enough classed as sensational
that appears in many of the weekly story papers
| and is devoured by thousands of readers to the
| injury c. mind and morals, Mr.. Cobb's fiction
| DkS HIGH Tia WE Darticnlarlv